Holiday less of a respite for retail employees

By L.M. Sixel |
November 21, 2012
| Updated: November 23, 2012 7:40am

Combine a tough economy with retailers that don't want to lose market share and financially strapped shoppers determined to find deals on must-have gifts, and it's probably no wonder that the early bird specials from Black Friday are encroaching on turkey day itself.

More retailers are opening earlier than ever this year to launch the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving day. Walmart and Sears open at 8 p.m. Thursday, and Target opens one hour later. Gander Mountain stores nationwide open for business at 9 a.m., along with some Old Navy stores in Houston.

Several more retailers - Macy's, Best Buy and Kohl's among them - will throw their doors open at midnight.

But some employees are upset that the early store openings are making it more difficult to spend the holiday with their families. Some of that ire has been directed at Wal-Mart Stores, which has petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to try to block protests scheduled for Black Friday.

Some employees are happy to get the hours, said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consulting and investment banking firm in New York.

But he suspects that more workers are upset than pleased about having to work during one of the nation's most sacred holidays.

Many families require two incomes to get by and have such busy lives, he said, that Thanksgiving is an eagerly anticipated time of togetherness that can't be replicated on another day.

But most retailers aren't worried about employee morale because they have such high turnover, Davidowitz said. Instead, they're in a retail arms race as Wall Street analysts pore over every financial misstep and many believe they have no choice but to open on Thanksgiving Day.

If this year's experiment turns out like it did last year, stores won't make more money - sales will simply be spread over more hours. But retailers are so afraid to lose market share that they feel forced to follow their competitors' lead, especially the biggest retailers in the nation, Davidowitz said.

He speculates that consumers will turn increasingly toward online shopping to compare prices and avoid crowds.

Wal-Mart is ready for the "Super Bowl for retailers" and isn't going to let a small group of mostly outsiders interfere with the company's plans for the holiday weekend, the company's director of national media relations said in a statement.

"We spend a lot of time listening to our associates," the executive, Kory Lundberg, wrote. "We want everyone to have a positive and rewarding experience working at Walmart. But we recognize that not everyone is going to find what they are looking for in their job - that's true of any workplace."